Romania's ruling coalition may come up with a technocrat for Bucharest mayor

Romania's grand ruling coalition, formed by the Social Democrats (PSD) and Liberals (PNL), held another meeting on March 18 to nominate candidates for Bucharest in the June 9 local elections but once again failed to reach final decisions.

However, there's a real chance that the two parties will go with a "neutral" candidate for the general mayor seat, instead of choosing between their best options, Gabriela Firea (PSD) and Sebastian Burduja (PNL).

This is an option similar to that made by the coalition for the top candidate on the joint PSD-PNL list for the European Parliament, the seat given to Ramona Chiriac – head of the EC Delegation to Bucharest.

However, such a strategy of choosing "technocrats" instead of politicians for key positions puts into question the very validity of the political construction (the PSD-PNL alliance), which some say was designed by president Klaus Iohannis in 2021 to preserve his control over the executive. Highly lucrative so far, it shows its limitations (lack of consistency) during the elections when the parties have to somehow relate to their (very different) electorates.

This time, for the Bucharest mayor seat, the Social Democrats and Liberals reportedly agreed on the manager of Bucharest University Hospital, Catalin Cirstoiu, Digi24 reported. The son of an influential Social Democrat regional leader and son-in-law of former President Traian Basescu, Cirstoiu is familiar with politicians but he has not been involved in politics so far.

(Photo source: Inquam Photos/Octav Ganea)